Yes because voting is literally the bare minimum you do. We have first past the post, make sure the least shitty candidate is past the post AND then keep working to fix things, keep working to get better candidates in the next primary.

If Kamala Harris had been elected, we could be protesting for meaningful action in Gaza, meaningful climate action. Instead, those issues have become buried by all the tremendous waves of shit flying out of the republicans.

There are also a few, more recent companion books that give a lot of historical context to both Melville and whaling, etc

Why Read Moby Dick? By Nathaniel Philbrick

Ahab’s Rolling Sea, by Richard J King